Dr. Sunny Patel, a former senior executive at the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), told The Insider that he and his colleagues were given a target figure in dollars and an Excel formula to calculate savings. DOGE representatives specified which contracts should be terminated, while SAMHSA officials tried to protect the most important ones. “We had to reach a specific number, and there weren’t that many options for cuts,” Patel said. “In the end, it came down to: ‘Well, I guess we’ll sacrifice this one,’ simply because it was the lesser of evils.”
Media investigations showed that the greatest effect was achieved only through staff reductions across agencies. At the same time, cutting positions “saves” a relatively meager $40–50…
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